Sheepishly, the chastised crew member sat down again and resumed her duties. Billy found it difficult to blame her; she was only expressing what everyone else felt. No sooner had the explosion from the Bardomil vessel dissipated than the Alliance Eagles arrived, and swept straight into the battle.
“We have contact, sir,” the Scanner Technician announced what everyone could already see on the View Screen.
It sounded ridiculous, but Billy knew that the free flow of information in a battle situation was almost as important as weaponry. Every detail and development in the battle had to be announced.
“Very good,” Billy responded, “take us out of stealth, and let’s give the enemy something to look at,” he ordered with a faint smile.
The first attack group of Eagles to arrive struck the centre of the unprepared Bardomil fighters like a tidal wave. The Alliance pilots had carefully selected their primary targets in their approach, and had let fly with a massive volley of low-yield pulsar-bolts. From behind the stealthed force-shielding of the Aquarius, the Eagles had appeared as if from nowhere amongst the enemy fighters. The first volley of the Eagles had swept away dozens of Bardomil fighters in red, roaring, burning devastation. Then, the jubilant Thexxian pilots had chosen their next targets and flung their fighters into the melee of attack around the Accommodation Ship.
In the space of a few heartbeats, the Bardomil hunters had suddenly become the hunted. Their easy victory over the slow lumbering Thexxian Accommodation Ship had melted away to be replaced by a life and death struggle against these new well-armed, quick and manoeuvrable wedge-shaped fighters that none of the Bardomil pilots had ever encountered before.
“Cease fire on the medium- and high-yield pulsar-cannons,” Billy ordered.
The Alliance fighters were now engaged with the enemy, and Billy did not want to risk losing his precious Eagles to friendly fire.
With their pulsar-cannons blazing, the Eagles scythed into the Bardomil fighters. It normally took one good direct hit from a low-yield pulsar-cannon to eliminate a Bardomil Harpoon fighter. However, the larger, and more robust, Flying Devils could usually survive three or four low-yield pulsar-bolts. This proved to be the case with the first encounter with the Bardomil fighters. The Harpoons that were struck by the Eagles’ pulsar-cannons usually exploded under the impact of the first direct hit. The Flying Devils that were hit sometimes took five or six pulsar-bolts to destroy them.
Thus, in the first salvo, more Harpoons than Flying Devils were destroyed. The Eagle pilots who scored non-fatal hits on a Flying Devil had been ordered to leave the damaged vessels to the Explorers following behind them in the formation. The Eagle pilots’ job was to push the enemy fighters away from the Accommodation Ship and into the flanks of the left wing of the Bardomil formation. Even as the Eagles were targeting their second volleys into the Bardomil formations, the three Explorers were scanning for, and targeting, damaged Bardomil fighters. The damaged Flying Devils that were still offering resistance were quickly and methodically being eliminated by the pulsar-cannon gunners on the three Explorer ships.
Billy Caudwell was well aware that the element of surprise could be decisive in a fighter-on-fighter battle. The split-second of confusion and indecision that could befall even the best trained and experienced pilots would prove to be fatal for many Bardomil. Before the Bardomil pilots could react to the sudden appearance of the Alliance Eagles, a second wave of Harpoons and Flying Devils were being cut down by the low-yield pulsar-bolts. Many of the Alliance pilots had seen family members or comrades-in-arms die in the Exodus. Many had been on the receiving end of a Bardomil attack and had been forced to scurry away in defeat time and again to cover the retreat of the civilian convoys. Now, they were settling some old scores. Now, they were attacking. They had the all advantages, and the Bardomil were going to pay for almost two decades of Thexxian humiliation and defeat. The Alliance pilots laughed, screamed and cheered for the sheer joy of killing their most hated enemies.
The best Bardomil pilots reacted instinctively and began to veer their Harpoons or Flying Devils violently away from their pursuit of the Thexxian civilian ships and away from the bone-crunching attack on their flank.
On the War Table image, it looked to Billy Caudwell as if a bulldozer had hammered into the centre of the Bardomil positions, and was shovelling the survivors relentlessly towards the left flank of the Bardomil position.
“Sir, second wave about to make contact!” the WATO intoned as professionally as he could muster.
“Good work, WATO,” Billy praised watching another fifty Eagles in “V” formation approach the battle zone, “straight into their left flank, WATO, and push them on to the Thexxian saucers.”
The battle around the Accommodation Ship appeared to be going the Alliance’s way, with the Bardomil fighters scattering in confusion in the face of the Alliance Eagles. The Bardomil right flank was being swamped by fugitive Harpoons and marauding Eagle fighters. The next priority was to smash the Bardomil left wing and rescue as many military saucers as they could. Trained Thexxian pilots were hard to come by these days, and Billy, with an eye to the future needed as many as he could find.
“Second wave made contact, sir,” the WATO announced.
On the View Screen image, Billy saw the point of the “V” formation pass through the Bardomil symbols like a knife through butter as dozens of the enemy vessels simply vanished. Once again, the first salvo from the low-yield pulsar-cannons had been devastating with the astonished Bardomil pilots caught in the firing line being swept away. The entire Bardomil left wing seemed to crumple and collapse under the pressure from the vicious Eagle assault. The surviving Bardomil vessels were turning and fleeing towards the Fighting Saucers’ battle area, pursued by the avenging Eagles. The Alliance pilots knew that they could not allow the Bardomil to re-group. The Bardomil had a numerical superiority in the battle, and Billy Caudwell knew that he could not afford to lose Eagles or their pilots from his fledgling force. The Bardomil Empire probably had millions of Harpoon fighters and their pilots at its disposal, whilst he had a grand total of two hundred Eagles and their pilots.
For the surviving Bardomil pilots it had now become a race to reach the safety of their own centre. The wiser and more experienced pilots had quickly realised that their Harpoons were no match for these strange new wedge-shaped fighters. Now, discretion had become the better part of valour as the surviving fighters of the Bardomil left wing darted and jinked around and between the larger, slower and lumbering Thexxian civilian ships that a few seconds before they had held at their mercy.
Except, now, the Bardomil pilots were busy trying to evade the nightmare of the wedge-shaped fighters that pursued and harried them through the lanes of damaged but flying Thexxian civilian transports. The Alliance pilots, elated by their ongoing victory, gave the fleeing Bardomil fighters no quarter or respite. Chasing the Bardomil through the alleyways of civilian transport hulls, the Alliance Eagles were still firing on their fleeing enemies. For many of the Bardomil pilots it was a futile undertaking. No matter what manoeuvres or evasive techniques they employed, the relentless Alliance Eagles hunted them down to destruction amongst the Thexxian vessels they themselves had been trying to destroy only a few moments before.
To Billy Caudwell’s delight, it was still a pursuit battle. The Bardomil, having been caught by surprise on their left wing, were being chased and hunted down. The Alliance Eagle pilots were keeping up the pressure, not allowing the Bardomil to turn or re-group. The pursuit of the Bardomil was rapidly becoming a rout. From a tactical point of view, the more experienced observers could see the Bardomil vessels trying to extricate themselves from the maze of civilian craft, fighting a sturdy rearguard action as they went. However, the Alliance symbols seemed to be constantly outflanking the red images in the maze. What was happening on the battlefield was that the Eagles were rolling up the Bardomil left flank.
The initial attack had stunned the Bardomil, who were trying to retre
at to regain their fighting formation.
Time and again, the fleeing Bardomil Harpoons tried to jink and weave their way through the Thexxian civilian transports, trying to escape from the vengeful Alliance Eagles. Time and again, they would fall to the pulsar-cannons. For the Eagle pilots chasing the Bardomil through the alleyways of civilian transports, on the Bardomil left, it was becoming a turkey shoot. However, these moments of easy victory were about to come to an end.
The Fighter Controllers aboard the Imperial Fighter Carriers had switched forty Harpoons from the battle in the centre of the Thexxian position to the left flank to prevent the entire Bardomil line collapsing and being rolled up. The Bardomil Fighter Controllers were well aware that the momentum of the Alliance attack from their left flank would then fall onto the centre of their position around the Thexxian Saucers. The Thexxian Fighting Saucers, seeing a weakness in their enemy, would also push forwards to support this attack, adding to the pressure on the Bardomil centre. The Bardomil had to put up some form of barrier to this flank attack until they could reinforce their position. The Bardomil had to blunt the Thexxian attack, curb the momentum of the Alliance Eagles and hold firm until further support arrived. The Bardomil may have been surprised and sustained losses, but this battle was far from over.
“Counter attack forming in front of our left wing!” Billy warned the WATO.
“I see it, sir,” the WATO replied, “Third wave should make contact in three minutes.”
Too late, Billy thought to himself, they won’t arrive in time. The Eagles out there will just have to take the knocks and fight on with it.
Still giving pursuit to the surviving vessels of the Bardomil left flank, the Alliance Eagles met the new Harpoons head on. This time the Bardomil had the element of surprise, and for the first time in the battle, the Alliance Eagles began to sustain losses. At point blank range, both attacking formations fired at one another. Like Knights of Old, in a Jousting Tournament, the two sides had jabbed at each other, as they passed, before turning to join in further mortal combat.
On the View Screen image, Billy Caudwell saw the two lines of fighters clash with the exchange of weapons fire. On the Bardomil side twelve of their forty Harpoons vanished, whilst five of the Eagle images also disappeared. For Billy Caudwell it was the first losses he had sustained in the battle, and he could ill-afford to lose those fighters and pilots. Out in the cold, empty airless desolation of space, the images that vanished on his Screen meant a pilot perishing swiftly in a blossoming ball of red roaring flame and destruction. Billy Caudwell had to set aside that part of his humanity and allow the part of his mind that was Teg Portan to direct this battle.
Having crossed over and through each other in space, the two attacking groups turned to face each other again.
An instant later, the great snarling scratching melee of fighter on fighter dog-fighting began. These Bardomil pilots, having just gotten used to slamming weapons fire into Thexxian Fighting Saucers, now found that they had been re-directed and were fighting for their lives. They were, like their left flank comrades, quickly discovering that Alliance Eagles were not the same as Thexxian Fighting Saucers.
With the second group of Harpoons engaging the Alliance Eagles, the surviving Bardomil of the left flank, given a few moments to breathe, turned their fighters around and joined the twisting, snarling and scratching dogfight that was starting to develop. The addition of the survivors from the left wing, determined to avenge their fallen comrades, swung the numerical advantage back to the Bardomil. The headlong attack of the Eagles had been halted, as the battle now settled down to the scrimmage of fighter on fighter combat.
“Halt the Explorers, get them to add fire support from a distance,” Billy ordered.
The Explorers who had followed the Eagles into the fray, halted, and held station beyond the margins of the fighter battle. The slower and more cumbersome Explorers had no place in the twisting and turning maelstrom of fighter combat.
Meanwhile, large numbers of Thexxian civilian ships had managed to scamper or limp to the safety of the Aquarius. With many of the Thexxian vessels badly damaged and some ablaze, unarmed Alliance transports began shuttling to and from the civilian ships. Already medical technicians were combing through the Thexxian ships prioritising the most desperate cases for the teleport technicians to send directly to the Hospital Decks aboard Aquarius. The lightly injured could be tended to and transported to Aquarius in the next available vessel. Thexxian crews and civilians aboard some of the transports were fighting valiantly against the flames of their stricken vessels, desperately buying time for the others aboard to escape.
On the great cavernous Cargo Decks, the first of the Thexxian refugees were starting to arrive and be met by Alliance personnel. The experience of recovering the thousands of dead Thexxians from the path of the Exodus had been a good training exercise for organising the growing numbers of frightened, injured and traumatised refugees. The Separatists, who had been so keen to avoid the supposed tyranny of the Universal Alliance, numbed and shocked by their experiences allowed themselves to be identified and categorised by the Alliance personnel. There was no resistance, no complaints, and no angry protests. They were just glad to still be alive. For them, the Thexxian Exodus was finally and completely over. They had learned that here was no place for them to run to.
In the War Room, Billy Caudwell watched intently as the first Alliance Eagle attack was becoming bogged down in a fighter free for all. This was not what he wanted to happen. The momentum of the attack had been halted before the Eagles could smash into the centre of the Bardomil formation.
Billy Caudwell could not afford a battle of attrition at this point with a numerically superior enemy. From the direction of the Bardomil Fighter Carriers, he could see five M-Cruisers moving forwards from their stations to support the Harpoons and Flying Devils. He could also see more Harpoons emerging from the flight decks of the Imperial Fighter Carriers.
“How long until third and fourth wave make contact?” Billy asked.
“Ninety seconds to third wave, and four minutes to final wave; we have no reserves, sir,” the WATO responded making sure that the First Admiral was fully aware of the tactical situation.
“Duly noted,” Billy acknowledged the WATO’s concern, and for a brief moment Billy felt the tension in the War Room rise several notches. But, there was a battle to fight, so the concerns and anxieties of the War Room personnel would have to wait.
On the View Screen image, Billy Caudwell could see his Eagle attack on the Bardomil left was beginning to bog down, and was also beginning to sustain losses. The Alliance Eagles, easily outperforming the Bardomil Harpoons and Flying Devils, were still vulnerable in the scratching, twisting and snarling melee of the fighter on fighter dogfight.
“Third wave approaching battle zone, sir,” the WATO announced.
“Very good, WATO, press home your attack,” Billy ordered watching the View Screen intently as the third wave of fifty Eagles approached the battle zone.
The third group of Eagles had not been directed to sweep into the Bardomil left flank or centre, but into their right flank. In yet another bone shattering attack, the Alliance Eagles unleashed a massive volley of low yield pulsar-bolts into the unsuspecting Bardomil. On the View Screen, Billy watched another “V” formation smash through a Bardomil position as if it had been made of tissue paper. Once again, dozens of Bardomil symbols simply disappeared from the View Screen. This time, there was no free for all fighter melee. The Alliance symbols held formation and continued through the Bardomil lines carving a direct path towards the encircled Thexxian Fighting Saucers with their pulsar-cannons. The sheer weight of their firepower was shattering any resistance that stood in their path.
“Squadron six report enemies breaking, sir,” a Communications Technician suddenly called out. And, as if to confirm the Technician’s report, Billy watched as the entire Bardomil right flank simply caved in.
Being pressed from two sides, an
d in danger of being isolated in the battle zone, the Bardomil pilots broke discipline and turned their fighters for the safety for their Imperial Fighter Carriers raising a muted cheer from some of the War Room personnel.
“Focus on your duties, please,” the iron hard disciplinarian in the WATO stepped forwards.
First Admiral Billy Caudwell wanted to cheer the demise of this large group of Bardomil, but the part of him that was Teg Portan knew that the WATO was absolutely correct. In the battle situation, you had to be totally focussed when split second decisions could mean life or death for a comrade in arms. The Bardomil formation was starting to crumble, and, like a house of cards, when one part fell, the others would also fold up.
“The enemy centre is starting to disengage, sir!” the WATO exclaimed, “They’re pulling back!”
The calm and resolute Billy Caudwell had already seen this on the View Screen. The Bardomil positions were crumbling, which allowed the surviving Thexxian Fighting Saucers to punch free of the trap in which they had been held. With the collapse of the right and centre, the Bardomil counter attack on the left also began to withdraw. The Alliance attacks had gone in hard and brutal, and had completely stunned the Bardomil Harpoons and Flying Devils on the flanks, which were gradually fragmenting into a disorganised panicked rout. The centre of the Alliance line had stunned the Bardomil, and was prodding them back, despite dogged resistance, whilst the Alliance flanks snapped at their heels. The momentum was with the Alliance Eagles, but if the Harpoons and Flying Devils could find their formation again it could become very unpleasant for the Eagles.
“Keep pressing them, Flight Control,” Billy anxiously ordered the officer in charge of fighter operations, “and, get those Thexxian Saucers out of there!”
There was still a great deal of fighting to do, and the Thexxian Fighting Saucers would be more hindrance than help to the far superior Alliance Eagles.
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